News

Marathon Record Update

The Men's 70-79 Hwt Marathon British Record set last month by Peter Daniels has now been recognised as the official World Record - congratulations Peter!

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield

Two sets of pupils from Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield rowed their way into the record books last Saturday (27 June) in the Gracechurch Centre.

Four boys, aged 16 successfully smashed the record for Team 1-hour maximum distance Concept 2 indoor rowing record by 213 metres, rowing an incredible 18192 metres.

Head of Rowing, Brian Davies said: "The boys success is down to their excellent communication and team-working skills as well as their determination to succeed. They worked incredibly hard and thoroughly deserve their records."

Masses of shoppers gathered to cheer the boys on who were attempting the feat as part of a big fundraising effort to send them on their way to Johannesburg, South Africa in the summer where they will take part in the inaugural Bishop Bavin Regatta.

A team made up of four students aged between 14 and 16 also broke the Concept 2 1-hour maximum distance record for Under 18's by nearly a 1000m, achieving a distance of 17246 metres.

Jasroop Bhogal came within a tantilising 0.2 seconds of breaking the 13-14 year old shortcourse 100m world record. He is hoping to finally break the record that has stood for nine years on his next attempt in October.

Rowing captain, Tom Jackson said: "It was an extremely good performance from all members of the team, who have all trained hard over the last few months to achieve this feat. It also sets us up well to perform to our best when we compete in South Africa this summer."

The rowing team will also be taking part in a final fundraising car wash at the school on Saturday 18 July from 10-2.30 to fund the trip to South Africa.

More Records Broken

Continuing 2009's trend for record breaking, 3 more British records have been broken in the last week or so - bringing the total number of British Records broken this year to 18

On Saturday 12th June Peter Daniels broke the 70-79 Hwt half marathon record in a time of 1:27:53, beating the previous record held by Brian Bailey (2008) by just over 3 minutes. Just 8 days later on Saturday 20th, Brian Bailey's full marathon record was also taken away from him by Peter who rowed the 42,195m in a time of 3:01:41 - at the time of writing we're just awaiting confirmation from Concept2 Inc in America of this time as a new World Record as well, the current record of 3:11:40 has been held by John Johansen of Norway since 2003.

The following day Greg Trahar completed the Summer Solstice challenge, a C2 US incentive encouraging people to row 21,000m on the longest day. Greg added the 97m required to make it a half marathon and completed the time in 1:17:23 beating his own record by just 19 seconds.

Coalition Forces Break Free of Usual Fitness Routine

BAGHDAD - Coalition Forces and civilian support staff working in the heavily fortified International Zone work long hours under stressful conditions. One way more than 500 personnel a day work out that stress is through exercise. Next to the weight and running machines at the Camp Travis gym is a unique way to keep fit - four Concept2 Model D indoor rowing machines.

Fitness enthusiasts have the added benefit of being able to receive expert instruction from a fully qualified indoor rowing instructor, trained on the equipment being used. The gymnasium has a uniquely international atmosphere because it is used by people from many different countries and a variety of fitness standards.

Rowing expert and graduate of the Concept 2 UK instructor course, Mr Stephen Carr volunteers his spare time to advise students how to best use the indoor rowing machines. Besides working as a security consultant to the US Army in Iraq, Stephen introduces novices to rowing during free-of-charge lessons, shows them proper technique, helps them identify common errors and gives them training guidance. Experienced rowers also benefit from his knowledge by getting advice on proper technique and equipment husbandry.

Schools League Not Over Yet!

The Concept 2 Schools Indoor Rowing League 08/09, which involved over 4,000 teams and nearly 20,000 competitors from right across the United Kingdom, has just finished. But with National Schools Sports Week coming up (29th June-3rd July) there is a bonus round open to all-comers. Teams of four are to row 2012metres ? the distance linking with the year of the next Olympics, (for full details see the League section).

The Fours competition has a increasing number of primary teams entering, reflecting the growing popularity of Indoor Rowing in primary schools. The same numbers of boys and girls teams, 380, entered in Year 8. Year 9 boys had the largest entry and year12/13 girls the smallest. The pattern of entries mirrors the fall-off in participation of adolescent girls seen nationally.

The total distance rowed over the 6 winter rounds was 14.7 million metres equivalent to rowing to Australia!

Gold medal winners in the fours competition were:

The high number of entries again this year is evidence that schools find that the sport appeals to a large range of pupils. The positive feedback received reflects the enthusiasm of the pupils for the lively and involving nature of the competition. One of the most encouraging aspects of the competitions is the participation of children who have had little or no success in ball-skills based activities, and who are delighted to find an activity in which they can experience the joys of teamwork, and even winning!

Million Metres For Multiple Sclerosis

Caroline Joynson has set herself the challenge of rowing one million metres in under a year to raise money for the MS Society in memory of her mum who died of MS in May 2002. She started on the 1st May and has so far rowed 130,000m.

Caroline has a blog about her challenge at carolinesmillionmetres4ms.blogspot.com and has also set up a Just Giving donation site should you wish to help with the fundraising.